Bench Strength

With the Likes of Nair, Yadav, Jadhav and Chahal Performing With Maturity Over the Past Year, Team India’s Bench Strength Looks Strong Ahead of the Champions Trophy.

- Chetan Narula

A HEAD OF the one-of f Test against Bangladesh, Virat Kohli was in a bit of a predicament . Ajinkya Rahane, the team’s vice-captain, was back from injury. For the first time in his Test career since his debut, Rahane had gone through a bad patch. Against England, he scored 63 runs in three Tests.

In his place, Karun Nair was inducted into the playing eleven. He didn’t get off to a good start, scoring four and 13 in Mohali and Mumbai, respectively. Clearly, he was filling in for someone else, and the pressure was telling on the youngster. Then, out of the blue, Nair feasted on a listless English attack in Chennai, and scored a triple ton, only the second for any Indian batsman in Test cricket after Virender Sehwag.

How do you leave out a batsman who has scaled such historic heights in his last Test innings? How do you consider leaving out a senior batsman, arguably India’s best in this longer format across conditions since December 2013? This query was put to the Indian skipper, and he replied with aplomb.

“Karun was stepping into his shoes and what he did was remarkable. It sealed his spot as far as the Test squad was concerned. But you cannot overlook what Ajinkya has done in the past two to three years,” remarked the skipper.

As it turned out, Rahane did play ahead of Nair in Hyderabad, and scored 303 runs. In a way, there can be no particular argument against the Mumbai batsman’s inclusion. The team management had adopted a culture wherein injured players step back in after they have proven their fitness in domestic circles. It is akin to what Australia did under Steve Waugh and then reaped the benefits for long under Ricky Ponting.